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Final touches being made to torch relay visit
Mr. Kirouac, a 55-year veteran of choreographing stage, circus and television, has teamed up with volunteers, the Vancouver Olympic Committee and corporate sponsors to devise a fast-paced combination of innovation and sentimentality that, in his words, will be "a collaborative community effort to produce the best torch relay celebration in Canada." Those who prefer things to be laid back and spread apart might be disappointed, though. There will be over 20 different mini-events happening in a span of about two hours. "Things just move, move, move," says Mr. Kirouac with an energy that, if it could be harnessed, would likely light up the Greater Toronto Area for a month. Sheila Duncan, the town's communications director and torch relay advisory board member, sums him up this way. "Roland's passion is contagious," she says. "It's infectious." He says each event staged by the community will average three minutes with 20-second intros and 12-second extros. Picture this, if you can, and try and keep up. A banner-towing aircraft is flying above as the torch arrives to the heralds of town crier Betty Kading and close to 80 local school kids parading in rhythm and hoisting their Canadian flags. Theatre Orangeville artistic director David Nairn, in his role as master of ceremonies for the community portion of the show, welcomes Orangeville's Canadian step-dancing champion, Chandra Gibson. Marathon runners, in a dance routine, direct spectators' attention to the snowboard choreography, to a rock 'n roll beat, on Murray's Mountain. The Orangeville chorus of the Sweet Adelines performs one of their awardwinning numbers on the stage. The Dufferin-Peel Skating Club guides, twirls and pirouettes on a temporary rink built specifically for the purpose. The Theatre Orangeville Youth Singers belt out the emotional, and original, song Shine Your Light Upon the World. Corporate partners RBC and Coca-Cola make special presentations on stage. And that's only the first half of the show. Representatives of the Orangeville Crushers, Tigers and Wolves hockey teams perform an on-ice tribute to our national game as, you guessed it, The Good Old Hockey Game by Stomping Tom Connors plays from the loudspeakers. Tenor Mark DuBois lends his superbly-honed vocal chords to the celebration. "We have hockey to opera," points out Mr. Kirouac. "It's very eclectic. There's something for everyone. " The Orangeville Snowmobile Club will perform a precision routine to the sounds of an original song from the internationally- renowned Celtic band Leahy. Piper Howard Hughes will pipe in past Olympians, including 95- year-old former track athlete Jim Worrall, the Canadian flag bearer at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The Legion colour guard will stand at attention as community torch bearer and local boxer Bryon Maki does the ceremonial lighting of the torch. The four-man skydiving team, the Descenders, will drop out of the skies. Weather permitting, they will link hands and hold a flag as they come down. The Orangeville Junior Curling Club will exhibit artistic wizardry with its brooms and the Maples Independent Country School kazoo band will give it all they got. All the while, RBC and Coca-Cola will have their share of entertaining and educational activities and the Orangeville Optimists Club will man its food booth. And, if you have any energy left after this, there's free skating at Tony Rose Memorial after the show. If this reporter has omitted any event or participant, he must be forgiven. For he, unlike Roland Kirouac, is only human. "It's been a delight to chair the community torch task force," says Mayor Rob Adams. "The excitement is starting to build and not only from Orangeville. We have had a lot of people from outside town expressing interest.
"We're blessed to have a guy like Roland in our community. His enthusiasm just rubs off on everybody." |
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